Communal character present in political parties other than BJP, Justice Sachar says

LUCKNOW: Former chief justice of Dehi high court Justice Rajender Sachar has said that the RD Nimesh investigation commission report should be immediately released by the UP government. The commission was set up to investigate questions raised on the arrest of two boys from Azamgarh and Jaunpur, Khalid Mujahid and Tariq Qasmi respectively, in the 2007 court blasts and the report of the commission is lying with the UP government since August 21, 2012.

Justice Sachar, who headed the commission formed in 2005 by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to prepare a report on the social, economic and educational condition of the Muslims in India, said that not only are the lives of the two boys at stake but what is also at stake is the justice for those who died during those blasts. The public ought to know who the real culprits were.

He was speaking at a conference organised by the Socialist Party in Lucknow. A list of 68 people framed in terror incidents was made public at the conference and investigation of charges was demanded for each of them.

According to the press release issued by the organizers, Justice Sachar said that at a time when Muslim youths are spending almost ten years in jail, before they are released without any charge, it is very important that the government set up a separate committee for investigating cases related to terrorism. He said that because of such incidents, Muslims are being forced to believe that the government is trying to frame them as part of their policy plan. This, he said, is a dangerous signal towards collapse of democracy itself.

Raising doubts over the secular character of various political parties, Justice Sachar said that even though the Congress governments are at the Centre and in Delhi, but still Muslims are being falsely framed in terrorism related cases on a large scale. This reveals the communal character of parties other than the BJP, he added. Citing example of Congress government in Delhi and at the Centre, he said that 16 Muslim youths who were falsely implicated on terror charges were later released on reports prepared by the Jamia Teachers' Association.

Demanding investigation in the custodial death of Qateel Siddique in Pune's Yarwada Jail, Sacchar said, "We would not let Nazism prevail in India". He also demanded that Faseeh Mahmood be brought back to India immediately. Faseeh is an engineer from Darbhanga who was working in Saudi Arabia and was abducted by the Indian Intelligence agencies in Saudi Arabia.

Justice Sachar demanded that the sedition law, which have origins in the British period, be abolished, as these have no place in a democracy. That the Congress government is not abolishing these laws is shameful, he said, as it was Jawaharlal Nehru himself who found this anti-democratic. He informed that the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) is doing a country-wide signature campaign against sedition laws which prevent people from exercising their democratic right to protest. A million signatures are being collected which will be submitted to the government.

On the issue of foreign direct investment, Justice Sachar said that just like East India Company who came to trade but ruled the country for years, the FDI is a path being paved for a new kind of slavery even worse than before.

On the occasion, coordinator of the 'Forum for the release of innocents imprisoned in the name of terrorism', Mohammad Shoaib, said that on the one hand the state government is not making public the RD Nimesh report and on the other hand, Tariq and Khalid are being harassed every night in jail. He said that Tariq Quasmi had written a letter from jail exposing the psychological pressure that the Muslim prisoners are undergoing.

Senior advocate Ravi Kiran Jain raised questions about the role of police and ministers during the riots at Asthan village of Pratapgarh that took place in the tenure of the SP. He also released the PUCL fact finding report of the riots. He said that in Asthan village, due to the fear and horror induced by rioters, people have not returned home yet.

Omkar Singh, the national secretary of the Socialist Party said that the SP government has betrayed the people of UP on the issue of releasing innocents imprisoned in the name of terrorism. The SP had promised before the elections that if they come to power they will ensure release of innocent youth but contrary to that four more Muslim youth have been implicated. Also in the seven month period of their being in power, eight major riots have taken place augmenting the process of communal polarization.

Social activist and Magsaysay awardee Sandeep Pandey said that the Socialist Party will organize a movement against sectarianism, human rights violation and FDI in UP.

Re: Communal character present in political parties other than BJP, Justice Sachar sa

Sachar is another overrated chap and he tends to act as if he the sole moral guardian of India.

He has nothing new to say - all political parties, as everyone knows, is communal. Being communal is merely being on which side of the political spectrum you stand.

Sachar himself in his Reports can be termed as communal in the broad sense of the word.

The sad part is that these Justices tend to self annoint themselves as Prima Donnas of Truth and Probity, when in actuality they are but only human, but assume an aura of being the last word in everything when they are a last word for nothing.

To imagine, the Supreme Court told the last Chief that it would be better to go along with where the wind blows. In short, it is better to be spineless and kowtow!

Even the process of Selection of the Judges has been questioned and it is said that good lawyer don't want to be Judges!

Every community and religion can cry themselves hoarse by claiming that communal consideration is the cause of their problems to include arrest and custodial death. Arrests and custodial death knows no religion!

What is important which the good ex Justice seems to forget is that if we just consider ourselves as Indians, then all these silly divides will melt into oblivion and we can live in peace without their self assumed august pronouncements!

They are the ones who by talking nonsense keeps the divide alive so that they are relevant even in the sunset of their lives!

Re: Communal character present in political parties other than BJP, Justice Sachar sa

Why this special emphasis on Muslims alone. The Indian justice system the way it functions, poor undertrials are incarcerated for years even before their case comes up for trial and then they might be judged innocent at the end of it, wasting years of their lives behind bars. And if it is a suspected Islamic/jihadi terror crime, then do we expect Buddhists or Parsis to be picked up - surely the security chaps will pick up Muslim suspects.